Forum Name: AmDaMan

Guide to Brighten up Dull Minilites

I always thought that a nice set of Minilites on a mini made it really stand out and was a nice touch to any mini exterior (or any car for that matter). Ill take you through a step by step process of how I brightened up my 12" Minilites when they were looking down.

Wheel looking rather grubby.

First off with what I used to do the job. I bought 2 cans of 'Plastikote Metal Protekt' in aluminum coulour. I've used plastikote in the past and it's always been good. I also bought 'Plastikote Super Grey Primer' for the base. Then I took a trip to Halfords and got a very large can of clear matt lacquer. All this came to about £20 but I ended up only using 1 can of the Metal Protekt spray which is about £7 a can.

Next I got around to preparing the wheels. Once they were off the car I laid them down and started masking the rims so I would not spray the tyres. What I did to achieve this was get a sheet of a4 paper, fold it in half and wedge it under the rim so you could get full spray coverage, even on the edge of the rims. I used white spirit to get the harsh rubbish off which I then rinsed and wire brushed. After that I used 0000 grade wire wool to get a fine finish then wiped the wheels down (also worth hovering the alloy to get remaining wire wool off). If you have chips or dents in your wheels you should use a good filler and then sand it down to suit the wheel. The other thing I did was take the centre caps off and put them aside as I was spraying them too.

The next step was the fun bit. I got the super primer and sprayed all the wheels evenly. I sprayed about 20cm away and it got a nice even finish. I got all the visible bits at the front of the wheel and all in the nooks and crannies which is tough with a minilite. The wheel was looking MUCH better already. I left the primer to dry for about 1hour and then came back and they were touch dry. I was impressed. If you wanted a challenge you could also spray the back of the alloy although this would be a tough job as it is very difficult to get into, but I left it as you wouldn't see the back of the alloy often anyway.

Next thing to do was to spray the wheels with the 'Metal Protekt'. I used the same technique as the primer but re-coated each wheel every 30mins so I gave each wheel 2 coats. They looked amazing, very shiny and eye-catching.

Not bad at all.

A Note here, it was hard to get into the nut holes but I used a wire brush and although I didn't get all the rubbish out, it came out well and should last as the surface was relatively clean plus its not a part of the wheel that comes under the most punishment. Just try and get it as clean as possible.

I left these to dry over night. I think I gave them all another coat in the morning and left them for a couple of hours (spray claims to take 45mins to dry). This was not necessary but I did it anyway. Once the wheels were dry I got around to spraying the wheels with the lacquer. Now I missed a step out here that I didn't know at the time. . . It's said that if you use fine wire wool to rub down the wheels before applying the lacquer that it gives you a shiny overall result. Anyway I sprayed the wheels without doing this step and gave the wheels coats every 20mins till the lacquer ran out. The lacquer I used was 'matt' but I guess 'clear' lacquer would help achieve a fine shiny finish.

I gave the same process to wheel nuts but this was only because I would replace them soon anyway and I had nothing else to do J The finish on the nuts would not last when a torque wrench is used to put them on to the wheels, but that's obvious.

So below is the finished result. Have fun and email me at amitw1985@hotmail.com for any questions.

Front wheel (didn't do a good mask job there)

Rear wheel

Thanks to & written by Amit Wheeler.